"I wanted to have a huge challenge and there was no question, they don't come much bigger than Bond in terms of scale and expectation," Mendes added. "I wanted to wake myself up, try something completely new. I also wanted to come back to England to make a movie."

He continued: "I'd never made a [movie] in England bizarrely, despite the fact that I'm English. And I wanted to work with Daniel [Craig] and Judi Dench again who I hadn't worked with for a while.

"So all of those things, it just felt like the right thing at the right time. It was a great piece of timing, but what I didn't know is I was going to have two producers who were going to encourage me in a way to make something that was as personal for me as all the other things I've done.

"My only concern going in was, was I going to make a movie by committee? They have an amazing way of guiding you without seeming to guide you which is the art of a great producer!"